GUM BRANCH, Ga. - The Latest on a school bus crash that killed a 5-year-old girl in Georgia (all times local):

6:20 p.m.

A man who came upon a crashed school bus along a dirt road in Georgia says one young passenger told him: "My sister's dead."

Clay Rowe says he spotted the wreck early Tuesday. He said he saw the bus's lights flashing through some trees separating the crash site from an adjacent highway in the tiny city of Gum Branch. When he took a closer look, he found the bus in a ditch with the front end smashed against a tree. He said crying children had escaped through the rear emergency exit.

Rowe said one girl told him her sister's body was on the bus. He said he looked inside and could tell immediately the girl was not alive.

The Georgia State Patrol says 5-year-old Cambria Shuman died in the crash.

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4:30 p.m.

Residents of a small Georgia community say they're heartbroken after a 5-year-old girl was killed in a school bus crash, but also grateful the toll wasn't far worse.

The Georgia State Patrol said Cambria Shuman died early Tuesday when the bus smashed into a tree after losing control on a dirt road. The crash happened in Gum Branch, a tiny city of fewer than 300 people about 50 miles (80 kilometres) southwest of Savannah.

Kayla Reinert said the bus crashed before it picked up her two children Tuesday. She called the crash and the girl's death "just tragic."

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1 p.m.

A Georgia state trooper says video shows a school bus driver struggling with the gear shift right before the bus crashed into a tree, killing a 5-year-old girl and injuring other children.

Lt. Thornell King of the Georgia State Patrol told The Associated Press it's too soon to know whether the 62-year-old bus driver will be charged in the Tuesday morning crash in Liberty County. That's about 50 miles (80 kilometres) southwest of Savannah.

King said video from the bus's onboard security camera shows the driver trying to bring the bus under control. He said it's possible something malfunctioned.

King identified the girl who died as 5-year-old Cambria Shuman.

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10 a.m.

Authorities say one child is dead after a school bus crashed into a tree in Georgia.

Liberty County Public Safety Director Mike Hodges said more than 20 children were riding the bus when it crashed early Tuesday during its morning pick-up route. He said one child was killed and the driver suffered serious injuries.

Several other children were taken to area hospitals. Hodges said his understanding is that they suffered "bumps and scrapes and lacerations." He did not know the name of the school where the bus was assigned.

The Georgia State Patrol said in a news release that the bus went into a ditch and smashed into a tree. It said no other vehicles were involved in the crash, which happened about 50 miles (80 kilometres) southwest of Savannah.

News from © The Associated Press, 2017